Standard Common Name

Lyretail Hawkfish

Alternative Name/s

Swallowtail Hawkfish

Identification

The Lyretail Hawkfish has numerous short filaments at the tip of each dorsal spine. It has a greatly elongated first dorsal ray (in the middle of the dorsal fin), long lower pectoral rays and a lunate caudal fin with filamentous upper an lower rays. Its colour varies from pink to brown.

It differs from the other Australian species of hawkfishes by its shorter snout and lunate caudal fin. Lyre-tail Hawkfish resembles the tropical fairy basslets in looks and behaviour, but can be distinguished by the long first dorsal ray that projects from the middle of the dorsal fin.

Size range

The species grows to 15 cm in length.

Distribution

The Lyretail Hawkfish occurs in tropical and warm temperate marine waters of the Indo-West Pacific. In Australia it is known from Western Australia and from the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland to southern New South Wales.

The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Click on the map for detailed information. Source: Atlas of Living Australia.